Demonlover is about high level, hardcore corporate espionage. It is also about sexual control and dominance. Sounds like a good formula. I was not impressed, however. In fact, I was fairly bored.
The corporate intrigue angle was not believable and the sexual aspects were stilted, unsophisticated, boring and not very erotic. For a much more intelligent, gripping and erotic portrayal of sexual dominance and control, check out Laura Reese’s excellent book Topping From Below. I highly recommend it. Demonlover is playing at the Anthology Film Archives on 2nd & 2nd.
Demonlover stars Connie Nielson who, for all the sexual elements in the movie, is not presented in a very attractive (physically) light, certain not in comparison to her gorgeous and, ironically, more sexual character in Gladiator. She plays an aggressive, corporate climbing, utterly without morals, cold as ice mega-bitch. So does Chloe Sevigny, Gina Gershon and, to a lesser degree (since she mostly just gets played), Dominique Redmond. All these characters share another quality, in that they are one-dimensional. They are utterly ruthless and willing to resort to murder, but the movie never provides us with much of any motivation for their actions. Presumably the motivation is money and power, but I find it somewhat disturbing that Demonlover feels no need to give any motivation for their extreme, to say the least, conduct.
I found the corporate espionage angle, which revolves around two competing internet porn distributors stopping at nothing as they vie for the attention of a French company that has struck a sweet deal with a major Japanese pornographic anime company, to be completely over the top and unrealistic. I am quite certain that there is plenty of industrial espionage going on in the world, but I don’t think that Demonlover’s portrayal of double and triple agents, moles, murderers and other espionage tactics worthy of the Soviet Union during the Cold War is at all believable, especially when all we are talking about are two companies vying for a porn distribution contract. The lack of believability quickly turned that plot angle into a yawner.
There are other aspects to the story, such as sexual power plays, hook-ups and a very hardcore, ultra-secret bondage and torture website, but none of these elements brought much to the table. If this had simply been a B-movie aiming to provide some intrigue and deviant titillation, it probably would have worked better. But the makers of this movie aimed much higher than B-movie and hit much lower.
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Demonlover (*½)
